1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of medical interventions, in particular to the field of heart valve replacements or stent placements. More in particular the invention relates to a method of optimizing workflow for a medical intervention. The invention further relates to a computer program for optimizing workflow for an intervention. The invention still further relates to a graphic user interface for enabling optimization of the workflow for an intervention. The invention still further relates to a system for optimizing workflow for an intervention.
2. State of the Art
Medical interventions, in particular, cardiac and vascular interventions are gaining profound importance in contemporary medical practice. For example, annually a great number of interventions is carried out with respect to heart valve replacements.
It will be appreciated that the heart of a mammal, such as a human being or an animal, includes four valves (i.e. mitral valve, aortic valve, pulmonary valve and tricuspid valve). The mitral valve controls the blood flow between the left atrium and the left ventricle. The tricuspid valve controls the blood flow between the right atrium and the right ventricle. The aortic valve controls the blood flow from the left ventricle to the vascular system of the body. The pulmonary valve controls the blood flow from the right ventricle to the lungs. Defective operation of any of these four valves may cause a specific medical condition. For example, a defective mitral valve may cause regurgitation (i.e. leakage between the left ventricle and the left atrium), thereby reducing the pumping efficiency of the heart, and depriving major organs of the body from oxygen and the necessary substances.
During a medical intervention regarding a heart valve replacement a suitable heart valve is replaced by an artificial valve, which may be either a mechanical valve or a tissue valve. Those skilled in the art will readily appreciate which valves are commonly used for facilitating the heart valve replacement.
Regarding the course of intervention, a closed-chest setting is preferred wherein access to the heart valve is gained either by performing a number of access holes in the chest or by entering the heart chambers through the vascular system, for example through the right subclavian vein, or inferior vena cava. Such closed-chest approach is commonly referred to as a minimally invasive surgery, which has gained its acknowledgement due to a considerable reduction of complications with respect to complications occurring after an open-chest surgery.
It is appreciated that for a successful intervention, be it a heart valve replacement or placing of a stent, accurate knowledge about target anatomy and position is required.
An embodiment of a method of assessing the size, shape and topography of vessel lumens for facilitating implantation of a prosthetic heart valve is known from US2008/0009746 A1. In the known method a catheter based device is used for determining at least one physical parameter of the cardiac valve and surrounding tissue in a body of a patient. For this purpose an assessment member provided near the distal end of a catheter is introduced to a treatment location within the patient, like the native cardiac valve, wherein the assessment member is activated for performing assessment for providing information to a clinician. The assessment member may relate to an intra cardiac echo, 3D ultrasound, electrode-based mapping and imaging device, electronic topographical mapping device. In the known method in addition an external imaging, like MRI or CT may be used.
It is a disadvantage of the known method that assessment of quantitative information pertaining to the target area is obtained invasively and substantially directly during the intervention. As a result, the patient may have to be conditioned for a longer period of time deteriorating workflow of the intervention. In addition, due to the fact that the clinician obtains quantitative information during the intervention there may be no time for optimization or other suitable brain storming.